Moments Of Gold
by Ruko Hanaji
Summary: Why must there be a morning after? Warnings: Slash. Lots of it. Male and female. And some het too.


Moments Of Gold

Well. This was certainly his room. And there was certainly a warm body cuddling close to him. And that was certainly a mild hangover he was going to be nursing for the next few hours.

_Oh well, two out of there ain't bad,_ thought J.

Glancing at the clock by the bedside, he winced a little at the LED display. Too early to get up yet, and his head felt enormous; still, he wanted to get some asprin and water into himself before he had a chance to feel worse. He turned his head back, and shifted a little, to get a look at his mystery companion.

Huh. It was the rookie.

J raised his head, resting it in one hand as he watched Spin sleeping beside him, and tried to collect his thoughts.

That's right. Spin had just completed a difficult mission, and in such a flawless and timely fashion that J declared they _had_ to celebrate the rookie's triumph. J rarely used his apartment these days, but there they had gone after being cleared by the Commander. The other Agents showed up at various intervals, bearing alcohol and food and more alcohol, and they celebrated noisily into the night.

In any case, J supposed the party had gone on; after a few hours of drinking and flirting with the new recruit, taking an evil pleasure in watching Spin getting increasingly flustered, J had finally stumbled into his bedroom dragging the rookie with him.

Poor kid; he never knew what hit him.

J leaned close to lightly kiss the smooth brown forehead; Spin murmured, snuggling closer. J grinned, giving his hip a pat, then gently pulled away to get up.

Pulling on his pants, he headed toward the bathroom, closing the bedroom door quietly behind him. A bit of fumbling for the asprin with an irritated grunt; he was going to need some strong coffee to face the day, he suddenly realized. Quickly he popped the asprin with a handful of water, grimacing. The major problem was he couldn't properly brew it worth a damn. It didn't matter how carefully he cleaned the pot or adjusted the water-coffee ratio; invariably it came out thick as motor oil with a flavor to match. He wanted a cup so badly right now, he could have sworn he could _smell_ it.

Wait.

Poking his head out of the bathroom, J took in the aftermath of party debris and a few stragglers in the form of sleeping lumps. But that smell was unmistakable.

Someone else was awake and had brewed a pot, bless them.

Shaking his head, J stepped carefully over Comma-no, excuse me, "Mr. X", sprawled on the living room floor with an empty bottle of scotch clutched lovingly to his chest, thunderous snores barely muffled by the cat mask.

J paused a beat, staring at the couple entangled on his couch, then continued manuvering around the empty bottles towards the kitchen.

Derek was at the counter, looking a little green around the gills. He had the nearly empty coffee pot in one hand and a mug in the other.

"Mornin'," J said, pitching his voice low for the sake of those sleeping. "Could I have that coffee?"

Derek paused before pouring the last of it into his mug. "I'll make more. We're going to need it." When J sighed, he added, "Chief's out on the balcony. Maybe he'll share some of his."

_Because we'd have to pry the cup out of your dead fingers before you'd share yours,_ thought J with mild amusement, saying aloud, "Okay, thanks."

Cheiftain was leaning against the ledge, his shirtsleeves rolled up around his elbows, looking out over the waking city. He turned his head a little when J slid open the glass door.

"Hey," he said simply, nodding when J padded over to stand beside him.

"Glad you're still here," said J.

Chief nodded again, turning his attention back to the view.

"I saw Foxx," ventured J, glancing at the larger man casually, "Where's Starr and Missy?"

"Ah." The senior Agent gave the barest hint of a smirk, looking back at J out of the corner of his eye. "They went home together."

_"Really."_ Both of J's bushy blond eyebrows arched high as he mulled this tidbit over. Foxx and Starr were usually thick as thieves. But there was no question that Foxx was curled up on the couch with Morris, of all people, her long limbs entwined with his (and god only knew what Derek's opinion of the situation was). J had to wonder if Starr was doing what he himself wanted to do; ever since Missy had joined the Agency, J wanted a chance to unbraid her thick pigtails and bury his face in her wavy brown hair. "You know," he remarked after a moment, "we're all as incestuous as a pack of inbred cats."

Chieftain choked on his coffee.

"Speaking of cats," continued J as if nothing had happened, "when did _he_ show up last night?"

"The Commander?" The other man wiped at his mouth. "He sauntered in around midnight or so." He looked pointedly at J. "If you hadn't disappeared with Spin, you'd have known."

J shrugged. He took Chieftain's coffee from him; he flicked his tongue briefly against the rim where Chief had drunk from and then took a swallow. He then turned to look at the other man with a smug expression. "Well, you found us, didn't you?"

Chief made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a grunt.

After J had pulled Spin into his room, he pushed Spin's jacket down around his elbows; the rookie's arms were effectively immobilized while J tossed his tie into a corner and then slowly unbuttoned the crisp white shirt. And _that_ was when Chieftain found them, J mouthing and gently biting Spin's bared chest, and Spin a gasping bundle of nervous anticipation. Spin had twitched, eyes darting between J and Chief, then his head fell forward with a surprised moan when Chief was suddenly behind him, holding Spin still, fingers trailing over the small of the rookie's back.

J smiled at the memory; you forgot sometimes how quickly Chief could move, big as he was.

"He's a good kid," said Chieftain suddenly. "He's going to be one hell of an Agent."

J nodded. He took another swig of the coffee, and offered the mug back. "Regrets?"

Chieftain took his coffee. "Nope."

The two of them stood quietly, leaning against the balcony ledge and watching the red sky gradually fade to pink and gold.

"Come on." Straightening, Chief turned towards J, motioning towards the sliding door with a nod. "Let's see if we can convince Derek to make breakfast."

J grinned; it was going to be a good day.


End file.
